There are two ways to kill a Zionist: with bullets or with simple words and gestures.
I came to Israel proud, happy and Zionistic. I left my motorcycle, my family, my girlfriend and all my friends behind in order to start a new life in the home that HaShem gave me, Israel. Since I came, I made many great friends from all over the world. I learned to speak Hebrew, bought a new motorcycle and began making my life here. Now, I don't know what to do.
Ariel Sharon decided to expel several thousand Jews from their homes and hand the land to terrorists. Last time I checked, the point of Israel is so the Jews have a home in which they cannot be expelled. All through history, Jews have been kicked from their homes by their enemies; now Sharon has taken it upon himself to do the same. He decided that instead of standing tall against those who want to destroy us, he is going to give them our land. I have begun losing my ideology, ipso facto. Why should I stay in Israel, when the leader is acting no better than any anti-Semitic European or Arab leader? The Israeli army, which is not just the army of Israel, but also the army of the Jews, will be used to expel these Jews, whom it is their duty to protect no matter where they decide to settle.
Sharon is pitting Jew versus Jew, brother versus brother, and for what? Because Palestinian terrorists and Jew-haters decided they want us out? And how do Sharon and his clan even have the audacity to decide where to relocate the settlers after the expulsion? Why would the settlers even want to stay in Israel at all? They worked through blood, sweat, tears and Kassams to build the paradise in Gaza they call home to today; now, Sharon tells them he wants to blow up their houses, move their graves and tear down their synagogues? He wants to build a casino on their land and he expects that the settlers who came here from all over the globe to just lie down and take it? Sharon calls for Jews in anti-Semitic countries to come home to Israel, but who is Sharon to say this? He is actually worse than the anti-Semitic leaders, because he is a Jew, he should not be forcing Jews out of their homes.
Then, the ambivalence sets in. If I leave Israel, I am giving up entirely, but then again, how can I stay? Deporting Jews from their homes and giving in to enemies is contrary to Zionism. I don't want to leave here, I have great friends and a great life here, but the reason I came here, my belief in Israel, all of it, is being broken. I hang out on a kibbutz, where everybody is leftist. My friends joke about how much I support Gaza's Jews. Where they see a wasteland that Israel doesn't need, I see somebody's home. It doesn't get to me, though. I can live here with some of my friends nagging me about being such a right-winger. I can live with kibbutzniks give me unnerving looks when I arrive at the kibbutz with two orange ribbons dangling from my motorcycle. I can even sleep at night, even if I have friends who are peaceniks. But how I can I continue to live with Israel breaking rule number one of Zionism?
How can I call myself a Zionist if the prime minister and the government are not? When my conscription comes up, how can I serve in the same Jewish army that was used to deport Jews? Would the children of the expelled settlers want to serve in the same army that ripped them from their homes? How can I feel safe in a country that will be such a short distance from a terrorist, anti-Israel country, without a buffer zone and the Israeli army there for protection? How can I be sure that after the expulsion, the Arabs will not continue their bombing and all was done in vain, and I will wind up leaving anyway because conditions will become so deplorable?
So many questions flow through my head each day. I sit with my friends at night, and think to myself how much I cannot leave them and that I do not want to. Yet, what should come first, my friends, my great life, my happiness to be home, or my ideology?
Thank you, Mister Sharon. I wish you could feel as I do - upset and heartbroken. You may profit from your ill-gotten casino after all is said and done, but all the money your casino generates couldn't heal the wounds you will inflict on me.
I came to Israel proud, happy and Zionistic. I left my motorcycle, my family, my girlfriend and all my friends behind in order to start a new life in the home that HaShem gave me, Israel. Since I came, I made many great friends from all over the world. I learned to speak Hebrew, bought a new motorcycle and began making my life here. Now, I don't know what to do.
Ariel Sharon decided to expel several thousand Jews from their homes and hand the land to terrorists. Last time I checked, the point of Israel is so the Jews have a home in which they cannot be expelled. All through history, Jews have been kicked from their homes by their enemies; now Sharon has taken it upon himself to do the same. He decided that instead of standing tall against those who want to destroy us, he is going to give them our land. I have begun losing my ideology, ipso facto. Why should I stay in Israel, when the leader is acting no better than any anti-Semitic European or Arab leader? The Israeli army, which is not just the army of Israel, but also the army of the Jews, will be used to expel these Jews, whom it is their duty to protect no matter where they decide to settle.
Sharon is pitting Jew versus Jew, brother versus brother, and for what? Because Palestinian terrorists and Jew-haters decided they want us out? And how do Sharon and his clan even have the audacity to decide where to relocate the settlers after the expulsion? Why would the settlers even want to stay in Israel at all? They worked through blood, sweat, tears and Kassams to build the paradise in Gaza they call home to today; now, Sharon tells them he wants to blow up their houses, move their graves and tear down their synagogues? He wants to build a casino on their land and he expects that the settlers who came here from all over the globe to just lie down and take it? Sharon calls for Jews in anti-Semitic countries to come home to Israel, but who is Sharon to say this? He is actually worse than the anti-Semitic leaders, because he is a Jew, he should not be forcing Jews out of their homes.
Then, the ambivalence sets in. If I leave Israel, I am giving up entirely, but then again, how can I stay? Deporting Jews from their homes and giving in to enemies is contrary to Zionism. I don't want to leave here, I have great friends and a great life here, but the reason I came here, my belief in Israel, all of it, is being broken. I hang out on a kibbutz, where everybody is leftist. My friends joke about how much I support Gaza's Jews. Where they see a wasteland that Israel doesn't need, I see somebody's home. It doesn't get to me, though. I can live here with some of my friends nagging me about being such a right-winger. I can live with kibbutzniks give me unnerving looks when I arrive at the kibbutz with two orange ribbons dangling from my motorcycle. I can even sleep at night, even if I have friends who are peaceniks. But how I can I continue to live with Israel breaking rule number one of Zionism?
How can I call myself a Zionist if the prime minister and the government are not? When my conscription comes up, how can I serve in the same Jewish army that was used to deport Jews? Would the children of the expelled settlers want to serve in the same army that ripped them from their homes? How can I feel safe in a country that will be such a short distance from a terrorist, anti-Israel country, without a buffer zone and the Israeli army there for protection? How can I be sure that after the expulsion, the Arabs will not continue their bombing and all was done in vain, and I will wind up leaving anyway because conditions will become so deplorable?
So many questions flow through my head each day. I sit with my friends at night, and think to myself how much I cannot leave them and that I do not want to. Yet, what should come first, my friends, my great life, my happiness to be home, or my ideology?
Thank you, Mister Sharon. I wish you could feel as I do - upset and heartbroken. You may profit from your ill-gotten casino after all is said and done, but all the money your casino generates couldn't heal the wounds you will inflict on me.